Wednesday, 17 April 2013

15 Second Review: Lucky Bastard (2013)

A number of horror films are centred around the porn industry (Horno, Tumbling Doll of Flesh, and OneEyed Monster, are but three examples). As will be obvious to even the most casual horror viewers, found footage films have boomed over the last decade. Being a found footage porn-industry based horror film, Lucky Bastard is hardly innovative. Hell, Lucky Bastard has more fundamental issues than it unoriginality: the film-makers struggle to entertain for 94 minutes.

The major flaw is that nothing depicted is anywhere near as "risky" or "dirty" as it needs to be in order to inspire fear or even shock. Lucky Bastard's central weakness is that it is nowhere near as uncomfortable to watch as the types of pornography the filmmakers overtly criticise; as the introduction caption has it, "For too long the adult entertainment industry has pushed boundaries not only of obscenity but common sense. Those who play with fire..."
The existence of Lucky Bastard is notable only for two question it triggers. First, what is the point in horror films about the porn industry if some forms of porn are closer to "horror" than the resultant horror movies are? Second, which is more exploitative: pornography, or low budget horror films that use the porn industry to inspire cheap thrills?